As music programs in schools continue to decline, the Music Performance Fund has been increasing its support and commitment in this area. At present, approximately 35% of available funds are earmarked for in-school programming. The MPF is proud to co-sponsor programs that not only present live music to the children, but also incorporate historic, instrumental and theoretical workshops. To continue its funding of these invaluable programs, MPF is broadening its local and nationwide search for philanthropic support. Below represents just a handful of MPF's invaluable school programs

Musicopia

Musicopia (Formerly Strings for Schools)
Philadelphia, PA

Musicopia has brought music education programs to schools throughout the Philadelphia area for over 30 years. It is recognized as the largest and most essential non-profit music education resource for schools on the East Coast, having already musically enriched the lives of some two million youngsters in Delaware Valley schools. In response to the growing needs of the ethnically diverse communities of the region, Musicopia recently expanded its programs to include a full range of instrumental and multicultural musical offerings reflecting Philadelphia's connection with world culture. Musicopia averages 700 performances a school year, with a combined outreach to over 200,000 students and parents utilizing the services of 18 professional ensembles presenting over 40 different variations of music education programs including Classical, Jazz, Afro-Caribbean, African Drumming and Dance, and Middle Eastern. Musicopia's other outreach programs extend into the community with residencies and workshops as well as performances geared for seniors in nursing home facilities. The Music Performance Fund has been Musicopia's major partner and supporter in this recent expansion.

Roots of American Music

Roots of American Music (ROAM)
Northeastern Ohio

The Music Performance Fund has provided funding for Roots of American Music (ROAM), a non-profit outreach program in Ohio dedicated to promoting an appreciation of American Roots Music and how it reflects the spirit and history of the United States. Roots of American Music helps teachers reach their curriculum goals through innovative educational programs. To date, curriculum-based assembly programs have been presented to over 500,000 students throughout Northeast Ohio. These include programs that: focus on the history of the Blues, celebrate the Bicentennial of the Buckeye State, bring alive the exciting era of railroading in America, explain and demonstrate the elements of jazz, introduce the African roots of music, commemorate various regional styles of Western folk music, study the early history of Rock-n-Roll, explore the decade of the 60s, survey African-American and Anglo-American musical styles, and illuminate the role of women as creators and exponents of popular music.

Black History Month Concerts

Black History Month Concerts
Buffalo, New York

Each February, during Black History Month, MPF provides full funding for concerts held in the neediest of inner-city schools of Buffalo, New York. The concerts are performed by musicians of diverse ages and cultures at schools that have lost their music programs. For most of these school children this is the only live music heard all year. The musicians visit the schools not only to perform Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Be-Bop and Soul, but also to talk about the history of black musicians, their instruments, and the music that has enriched our culture. The children are exposed to such names as Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong, Charlie Parker-right up to Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross. Musicians perform in groups ranging in size from quartets to big bands.

George Zukerman and student

George Zukerman
and the Great White North
Canada

The relationship between the MPF and George Zukerman, Canada's leading wind virtuosi and master bassoonist, started in the early 1970's and continues today through our organization's funding of this special project, which presents school concert demonstrations in Canada's most remote areas including the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik, and the Yukon. In a series of tours, which include appearances in settlements such as Qikiqtarjuaq, Kuujaarapik and Kangisuallajjuaq, (don't be surprised if you can't find them on a map), Zukerman and his minstrels perform in hundreds of schools for thousands of students annually.

Music Outreach

Music Outreach
New York, NY

Founded in 1965 by Eugene R. Gamiel, Music Outreach serves up to 65,000 New York City public schoolchildren a year. The Music and Literacy Enrichment Workshops and School-Day Orchestral Concerts provide opportunities for young students to participate in creative and developmentally appropriate educational experiences, which enhance motivation and opens up new pathways for learning. The music performances, which are presented in concert halls across the city, introduce young students to a wide spectrum of musical genres, and to the beauty of the performing arts as a foundation for lifelong learning. A recent, very successful, addition to the programs has been the Roots of Jazz seminars and concerts in which a skilled ensemble of specialists in jazz trace the ethnic, historical, and social influences that led to the evolvement of this uniquely American music.

Austin Jazz Workshop

Austin Jazz Workshop
Central Texas

AJW is a unique project that brings professional jazz musicians directly into central Texas inner city classrooms for workshops and performances. AJW's mission is to inspire young people to fully realize their creative potential through music. The group also seeks to reconnect students with their shared cultural heritage in the hope that they will someday build upon this cherished history of American jazz music. Since it began in 1994, AJW has brought more than 800 music education performances and workshops to an estimated 400,000 students in the schools of central Texas. Funding from MPF, which has been matched by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Austin Independent School District as well as by local businesses and foundations, enables the Austin Jazz Workshop project to serve a core group of 84 schools.

New Orleans Schools

New Orleans Schools

The Music Performance Fund has joined in the effort to bring back working musicians to New Orleans, the city which gave birth to our nation's original musical art form, and to contribute musically to a child's school experience. One quarter of the people living in the hurricane ravaged areas were children, totaling 183,000 -- 87,000 under the age of 5. The MPF's two-fold goal is to bring a feeling of normalcy to the children's lives while creating work for musicians displaced by the disaster. Although only a handful of schools opened this Spring, music became a joyful part of a child's day. Former public school music teacher and musician, Davis Rogan, took his Mardi Gras Jazz Band to two struggling schools where they led a parade for all the students and teachers into the neighborhood, past a nursing home where many of the patients came out for a wave and friendly smile from the children. The parade picked up locals along the way including relief to construction workers who joined in the line. Other in-school concerts and workshops included performances by the Sullivan Dabney Jazz Band at elementary schools and the John Royen Trio at the Mandeville High School, Covington High School and Fountaineblue High.

The School of Cool with Jazz Affair

The School of Cool
with Jazz Affair
Victoria, British Columbia

The School of Cool with Jazz Affair program in Victoria, British Columbia brings "hot" music in a "cool" manner to young people with the support of the Music Performance Fund and American Federation of Musicians Local 247. The Program, coordinated by Barbara Bair, provides an opportunity for primary, intermediate, middle and secondary school students to discover the basics of performing, playing and listening to jazz.

Salzburger Echo

Salzburger Echo
Utah

The Salzburger Echo delivers an exciting program for grades K - 12 and is certified by ARTS Inc. (Artistic Resource for Teachers and Students), a Utah-based organization that has involved artists, businesses, community leaders, schools, parents and teachers in a combined effort to strengthen arts education in Utah schools. The group also brings the Alps to audiences throughout the United States and Europe, playing Old World and contemporary folk music from the alpine regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Their performances, in authentic costumes, include 12 foot alphorns, Swiss cowbells, holz glachter and harmony yodeling. Together since 1993, assisted by the Music Performance Fund, Salzburger Echo also play at senior centers and Oktoberfests throughout the Northwest of the United States.

International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE)

International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE)
U.S. and Canada

As an IAJE member and sponsor, the Music Performance Fund is proud to join forces to provide an important public service by bringing the musical experience of Jazz to public school students of all ages, throughout the United States and Canada and to assure the continued worldwide growth and development of jazz and jazz education. As a means of advancing its mission, International Association for Jazz Education initiates programs which nurture and promote the understanding and appreciation of jazz and its heritage, provide leadership to educators regarding curricula, aesthetics and performance; assists teachers and practitioners with information and resources; and takes an active part in organizing clinics, festivals and symposia at local, regional, national and international levels. IAJE also promotes the application of jazz principles in music materials and methods at all levels of education; communicates informational segments of the public including artists, educators, students, enthusiasts, the music industry and the general public; and encourages education which provides the knowledge, skills and materials vital to a career in jazz.